Oil Price Increase Allegedly Due to CPO Production System Problems – 2024-07-11 07:28:41

Minyakita products in two liter packaging among other cooking oil products (MI / Susanto)

AGRICULTURAL OBSERVER, Syaiful Bahari said that the increase in the highest retail price (HET) of Minyakita indicates that the government has failed to build a production system for the palm oil industry. In fact, according to him, Indonesia is the largest CPO producing country in the world.

“This means that all the raw materials for cooking oil are in the country, even abundant and even exported. So if there is an increase in the HET for cooking oil, it means something is wrong,” said Syaiful when contacted on Tuesday (9/7).

Similarly to rice, Syaiful assessed that the raw materials are available and can be produced domestically, however, the current HET for rice continues to show an increase.

“This means the government has failed to build a national food production base,” he said.

If the two commodities, such as cooking oil and rice, whose raw materials can be produced domestically and even exported, Syaiful stated that the government would no longer be able to maintain price stability that is affordable for the wider community.

“Moreover, other commodities that are difficult to produce domestically or have low productivity will also push up the price of these foods,” he said.

Also read: Minister of Trade Proposes Increase in Oil Price HET

Therefore, the first solution according to him is for superior food commodities to be produced domestically, such as cooking oil, rice, corn and nuts, so the government immediately improves production management from upstream to downstream.

“So that the HPP of the commodity is lower and more efficient compared to other countries. So that the selling price to the public can be cheaper and more stable,” he said.

Second, Syaiful explained that for commodities that cannot be produced efficiently domestically, the only way to do so is through imports.

“But the government must cut all import licensing regulations that burden importers and traders. Because if the practice of economic rent in food imports is still rampant, it is certain that consumer prices will also be high, the victims are the people once more,” he said. (Z-8)